OCAD invests $590,000 to improve campus safety and security

TORONTO, October 6, 2008—The Ontario College of Art & Design today announced a $590,000 investment in campus security to improve the safety of its students, faculty and staff.

Over the summer, the university introduced a new radio-frequency identity (RFID) card system and added more closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to its campus and surrounding streets. In addition, a new campus-wide public-address system is being installed and the university is developing a text-messaging notification system for use in emergency situations.

“We’re working proactively to improve the safety and security of our campus and the vicinity,” said Vicki Brown, Director, Campus Services & Security at OCAD. “These most recent enhancements will benefit not only OCAD students, faculty and staff, but also our residential and commercial neighbours, as well as the thousands of people who visit our campus each year for public and cultural events.”

Improvements to campus safety include:

Upgrading from swipe-card access to RFID-card access in all OCAD buildings;

Increasing the number of CCTV cameras covering the university’s surrounding streets, Butterfield Park (located under the Sharp Centre for Design) and interior spaces;

Fully integrating of all of OCAD’s security systems including emergency phones and CCTV cameras;

Installing a campus-wide public address system;

Implementing an emergency text-messaging notification system;

Introducing bicycle patrols by security personnel; and

Hiring a new, permanent, full-time Security Coordinator.

About the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD)The Ontario College of Art & Design (www.ocad.ca) is Canada’s “university of the imagination.” OCAD is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. The university is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinarity, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.